Producer prices in July rose faster than forecast across the board, giving investors and the Federal Reserve an inflation surprise just over a week out from Fed Chair Jay Powell's crucial Jackson Hole speech.

The Producer Price Index saw its biggest monthly gain since June 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday.

Domestic producers are “raising prices in line with the protection tariffs are providing them,” said a construction economist, a move that could further stoke inflation.

Producer prices in July rose faster than forecast across the board, giving investors and the Federal Reserve an inflation surprise just over a week out from Fed Chair Jay Powell's crucial Jackson Hole speech.

U.S. producer prices rose sharply in July, driven by broad increases in service and goods costs, signaling renewed inflationary pressures.

The index increased 0.9 per cent from a month earlier, the largest advance since consumer inflation peaked in June 2022.

US stock futures hovered around the flatline as Wall Street awaited another pulse check on inflation after Tuesday's tepid figures sent rate-cut bets and markets soaring.

The consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, climbed 0.4 percent in July compared with the previous month, reversing a 0.1 percent drop in June and exceeding the average seasonal pace of 0.3 percent, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.